Construction of shoe soles of wood or other stiff materials



Feb. 27, 1945. H. GHEZ l rrAL CONSTRUCTION OF SHOE SOLES OF WOOD OR OTHER STI FF MATERIALS Filed June 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Hear Ghez 9 car 05 Ghez Feb. 27, 1945. GHEZ ETAL 2,370,302

CONSTRUCTION OF SHOE SOLES OF WOOD OR OTHER STIFF MATERIALS Filed June- 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS;

he BY 5% 2h;

ATTORNEYS.

Feb. 27, 1945. H, GHEZ Em 2,370,302

CONSTRUCTION OF SHOE SOLES OF WO OD OR OTHER STIFF MATERIALS Filed June 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 T F4 *ITfiJ 5.

INVENTORSQ Henry Ghez O car Ghez 24m $4911 ATTORNEYS.

Patentecl Feb. 27, 1945 CONSTRUCTION OF SHOE SOLES F WOOD OR OTHER STIFF MATERIALS Henry Ghez and ,Oscar Gh'ez, New York, N. Y.

Application June 2, 1942, Serial No..445,434

I 12. Claims. (01. 36-33) This invention relates. to certain' features of construction of soles for' boots, shoes, clogs and sandals, etc., vwhichare-made of wood or other normally stifi' materials and are slotted or cut to impart resiliency, flexibility or actual articulation, as disclosed in our copending applications, Serial Nos. 431,776 filed February 21, 1942; 438,598 filed April 11, 1942; 438,599 filed April 11, 1942, and 443,648 filed May 19, 1942.

The main object of our invention is to provide soles of the indicated character with more or less flexible binding or connecting members serving to hold articulation or flexure of the'soles within safe limits and/or to form means upon said soles to which an upper may be sewed.

Another object is to increasethe usefulness of such soles and make them more readily available for general adoptionby manufacturers and the public. i

A further object is to make'it practical to use wood or other stiff and/or cheap materials forsoles in order to economize on rubber and leather and still produce large quantities of excellent footwear. v

It is also an object herein to speed up production and lower costs in the manufacture of such footwear.

It is likewise an object to introduce a series of new designs in soles and footwear embodying the same by virtue of the construction and features of said soles.

Fig. is a transverse section of the sole of Fig. 9 on an' enlarged scale. j

dicate the same or like parts. I In connection with footwear, it is desirable to have flexible soles capable of flexing with the feet Figs. 11 and 12 are also sections of tions of the sole of Figs. 9 and 10.

Figs. 13 to 17 in similar fashion, are further modifications.

Throughout the views, the same references modificainwalking, and for the soles, leather, rubber, fabric and felt, etc., are commonly used. However, it has been disclosed in our mentioned copending applications that normally stiif or more or less rigid materials such as wood, plastics,

metals, etc., may be made flexible in structure by cutting slots through the same part way alter-- nately from one edge toward the other, each of.

Other objects and the advantages of our ina vention when applied to footwear generally will appear more fully as this specification proceeds.

In order to disclose more comprehensively the salient features of the invention,certain forms thereof are illustrated in the accompanying draw. ings forming part hereof, the same showing,

In Fig. 1, a bottom plan view* of a sole made according to certain principles of our invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same in normal position.

Fig. 3 is another side elevation showing thesole' in extreme flexed conditiom Fig. 4 is a cross section of the sole taken on line IV-IV in Fig. 1. I

the resulting sections of the sole being slightly flexible, with the flexibility of all the sections in a series summing upv to a satisfactory and sufficient flexibility of the sole as a whole.

The present invention preferably refers to improvements in the mentioned type of flexible sole while keeping the foregoing objects in mind.

Hence, referring new again to the drawings, a sole, generally indicated at I in Figs.'1 and 2 is preferably made of wood, more or less rigid plastic material or composition, or even metal, such as, steel, brass, beryllium copper, or aluminum, etc., and has a seriesof slots 2, 3, etc., alternately extending inwardly from the opposite edges and 5 of the sole proper, said slotted condition not extending necessarily to the shank 6, nor to the heel 1, although they could well do so upon occasion if dition of the sole is to allow flexure thereof as shown in Figure 3, for example, although said sole is made of normally rigid material. Each slot allows the section between the same and the next adjacent slot to twist or bend "slightly and Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view showing a modification of the sole of Fig. 1.

Figs. 6 and 7 are similar views of two further modifications.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation showing a modification of the sole of Figs. 1 to 5. Y 7 I Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a difierent-modiiteration of the sole of Fig. 1.

when the sole has a large number, of such slots the. sum total of the torsion of all the bent portions amounts to a suflicientand entirely satisfactory flexure of the sole, the upper edges of the slots tending to meet while the lower edges are separated further in flexed condition of said sole.

The foregoing features are already disclosed in our copending applications but are merely mentioned to form a proper background for the present invention.

It is quite evident that if af'slotted sole should be entirely dissociated from other elements it could be flexed beyond safe limits so as toreach a point of fracture when one or more of the sections thereof would break and the sole immediately be ruined. One of the objects of this invention is therefore to apply to the sole certain means which will limit flexure within a safe range and also upon occasion serve as proper welt means to which an upper may be sewed or attached when properly located upon a sole.

As particularly shown in the first two views already referred to, a rand 8 of leather, rubber, or synthetic plastic of the vinylite series for example may be cemented, nailed, or riveted to the sole l, preferably on the bottom thereof and may either be directly applied to the bottom surface or placed in a recess 9 cut into the bottom about the edges thereof. Upon comparing the normal unflexed condition of the sole in Figure 2 with the flexed condition particularly shown in Figure 3, it will be immediately apparent that the rand 8 limits the separation of the lower edges of the slots 2 and 3 and prevents further sepais limited to the amount of approach occurring between the upper edges of the slots within the range of the tensile strength of the rand 8 and beyond extreme flexure as shown no further change of shape can occur. In view of the limitation of the flexing of the individual sections of sole I, breakage will not occur as the sole is not flexed beyond a useful limit thus provided by the rand 8. While the sole l is substantially the same in Figures 5 through 8 as in Figures 1 to 4 and the slots and other features of said sole remain practically the same, it is referred to in the same fashion as in the first four figures. In Figure 5 the rand 8 of horseshoe shape has been replaced by two short rands l and II, preferably located in recesses at the sides of 4 and of the bottom of sole I, the principle of limiting the fiexure of the sole remaining exactly the same. In the same manner as the rand may vary by having the horseshoe form or by subdividing into two members, the slots 2 or 3 may likewise vary in number and spacing. It is evident that only one of the rand members I 0 or II may be used alone if desired. The shape of this rand may vary not only in length but in contour.

In Figure 6 the V-shaped leather, rubber or plastic member 12 preferably occupies a recess portion in the bottom of the sole. No portion of this member, which actually forms a limiting reinforcement extends out to the edges 4 and 5 of the sole, but is wholly located within the outline thereof, while serving the same purpose as rand 8 or members [0 and II in the preceding figures. A p

Another form of the reinforcing member is shown in Figure 7 at 13 where the same is a strip running down through the center of the sole proper and also being spaced at all points within the edges 4 and 5 of the sole.

It is clear that the reinforcing member not only may assume various shapes, but may also be located in some other position than upon or in the bottom of the sole, -and may therefore be inserted intermediately between the bottom I4 and top l5 of the sole I of Figure 8. The reinforcing member IS in this figure either takes the form of thehorseshoe shaped rand 8 of the first two figures or extends entirely through the sole from side to side. In any event said rand l6 occupies an'intermediate slot I! in the sole, said slot being either of limited depth from the edges or else extending through the sole so as to subdivide the same into upper and lower halves, either of these forms being obvious from Figure 8. The reinforcing member may have its usefulness extended into the very method of assembling the shoe or other footwear for which the sole is to be used, but being modified to form or occupy a sufficient amount of the peripheral edge of the sole to allow sewing the upper therethrough, one form of the sole in such condition being shown in Figures 9 and 10. Thus the sole I! which is of more or less stiff or rigid material as in the case of sole I of former figures is also slotted as indicated at 18 and I9, etc., while both the upper and lower surfaces 20 and 2| are recessed about the edges at 22, 23, and each of the recessed portions provided individually with rands 24 and 25 of rubber, leather, felt, or plastic of the vinyl series, these rands being secured in place upon the sole by means of nails, rivets or cement. The contour of the sole proper is reduced in size by cutting away a marginal portion thereof so as to allow for the width of a filler between rands 24 and 25 in the form of a band 26 of felt, rubber, plastic, or other suitable material, the same being secured in place between said rand members by cement or any other means known in the art. The upper partly indicated at 21, 21 may be sewed to the resulting reinforcing member or assemblage generally indicated at 28 by stitches 29, 29, although it could be wired or wire-sewed to the assemblage 28 if desired.

In Figure 11 the sole I1 is substantially the same in every detail but the assemblage 23 of Figures 9 and 10 has been replaced by a single channel-shaped marginal reinforcement 30 which is nailed, riveted or cemented to the sole, while the upper 21, 21 is sewed thereto by stitches 29, 23 as before.

In Figure 12 the sole 3| preferably made of the same material as soles l or II, has an upper rand 32,-,a filler band 33 while an outer wearing sole 34 is applied to the bottom and extends the entire width of the sole and the marginal members 32 and 33, and is cemented, nailed or otherwise secured to the sole, and is also true of members 32 and 33 while the upper 21, 21 again is sewed to the assemblage formed by said parts 32, 33 and 34.

It is quite possible to confine the rand to the top of a sole as particularly shown in Figures 13 through 1'7, the sole 35 in Figure 13 having an upper rand 3G seated in a recess 31 in the upper marginal edge thereof, while a cut-away portion 38 is formed with the main clearance thereof occurring toward the top adjacent to the bottom of rand 36 in order to allow clearance for the stitching of the upper 21 thereto as indicated I at 33.

In Figure 14 another form of clearance for the sewing of the shoe upper to the welt or rand is shown upon the sole 40 which has a groove or channel 4| within the edges of the upper surface 42, the rand 43 itself being'secured by nails, screws orcement to the sole and accommodated in a recess 44. The upper 21 is sewed to the rand or welt at immediately over the center of the channel 4| so that during stitching or sewing the needle will have the best possible clearance below without actually overhanging the outer periphery of the sole.

Another form which provides clearance for the sewing is shown in Figure 15 wherein the sole 4' has a rand or welt 41 occupying a recess 43 in the upper edge of the sole, while extending out beyond the outer edges to a limited distance in order to providev a full width for the sole. Cooperating with the welt or rand 4'! is an outer band or rim 49 which is secured directly to the side edges 50 of the sole by nailing or cementing the same, while the upper portion of said band is bent outwardly to lie against the lower portion of the outer edge of rand 41 and may be made of leather, rubber, plastic or even felt, etc. The upper 21 is sewed to the rand. 41 and also to ,the ba or lower welt 49 asshown at 5 I.

Another modification of reinforcing and/or attachment means shownin Figure 11 is illustrated in Figure 16, wherein the sole 52 has a peripheral projection 53 about the edges thereof, which is undercut both above and below and extends into an undercut groove or channel in the solid rand 54 and is preferably cemented in place so that once assembled this rand is substantially rigid with the sole 52 although it is itself composed of more or less resilient material, the upper Z'l being sewed thereto at 55.

A reversal of the structure of Figure 16 is shown in Figure 17, where the sole 56 has a dovetail or undercut slot, channel or groove ,51 inthe peripheral edges thereof into which a tongue member or bead 58 of a solid rand 59 is fitted, the upper 21 being sewed to said rand at 60.

In all the various forms or modifications of the invention one feature appears in common and throughout, namely, that the rand or one or more welts, bands, connecting or reinforcing means used in every case bridges the slots between the various sections of the sole so as to limit flexure thereof within a safe range and in all cases connects the slotted sections together. The material of the sole itself being for this purpose of less importance than the material of which the welt, rand, reinforcing means, etc., may be made, as

for the-latter it is possible to use various fabrics, i

felt, synthetic or natural rubber,'plastic materials, skin and leather in any combination desired.. It should also be stated that the rand reinforcing member or the like may extend a limited distance. along the sides of the sole or in any Position upon the same, bridging or at least connecting the slotted sections, or may extend around the entire periphery of the sole and heel, being perhaps modified at the heel in order to provide at least upper rand means for sewing the upper thereto. While various other modifications and related structures may be suggested, it is particularly emphasized that the forms shown are merely presented as practical examples and illustrative of an entire series of constructions embodying similar principlesand we therefore reserve any and all embodiments of these principles as commensurate with this specification so that the invention extends to all such forms within the appended claims.

Having now fully described our invention, we claim:

1. An outer sole for footwear made of a material normally relatively still, hard or inflexible the soopefof interconnecting the slotted sections thereof so as to bridge the slots between said sections.

2. An outer sole for footwear made of a material normally relatively stiif, hard or inflexible and rendered flexibleby the provision of a series 'of slots extending substantially transversely from near one edge of the sole across only a major part of the width of the sole and a second series of similar slots extending from near the opposite edge of the sole and extending across only a major part of the width of said sole, the slots extending through the entire thickness of the sole so as to provide a series of resilient sole sections. and flexible elongated means attached to a portion only of said sole substantially lengthwise of the same, and interconnecting slotted sections thereof so as to bridge the slots between said sections. r

3. A sole according to claim 1, in which the flexible elongated means comprising a rand of flexible material of the class consisting of fabric, felt, leather, rubber and plastic extending along at least a part of the periphery of the sole.'

4. -A soleaccording to claim 1, in which the flexible elongated means comprising a rand of flexible material of the class consisting of fabric, felt, leather, rubber and plastic extending along at least a part of the periphery upon the bottom of the sole.

5. A sole according to claim 2, in which the flexible elongated means comprising a rand of flexible material of the class consisting of fabric,

' felt, leather, rubber and plastic extending along at least a part of the periphery in a slot intermediate the upper and lower surfaces of the sole. 6. A sole according to claim 2, in which the flexible elongated means comprising a rand of flexible material seated in a recess upon the bottom of the sole.

7. A sole according to claim 2', in which the flexible elongated means comprising a welt or rand of flexible material of the full height or thickness of the sole and having portions of both sole and rand mutually engaged and. secured to- I gether.

8. A sole for footwear made of material which is normally stiff, inflexible and hard and rendered flexible and supple by the presence of a plurality of spaced open slots in said material extending completely through the sole from one edge a distance toward but not to the other edge so as to provide a series of resilient sole sections, said sole having a generally horizontal open slotextending at least partially thereacross and dividing the larger part of said sole into upper and lower halves, and a rand of flexible material in said'slot secured to and interconnecting the upper and lower halves and interconnecting the slotted portions thereof so as to bridge the slots.

9. A sole for footwear made of a material which is normally stifl, inflexible and hard and rendered flexible and supple by the presence of a plurality of spaced slots in said material extending completely through the sole from one edge a distance and rendered flexible by the provision of a series of slots extending substantially transversely from near one edge of the sole across only a major part of the width of the sole and a second series of similar slots extending from near the opposite edge of the sole and extending across only a major toward the other edge so as to provide a series of resilient sole sections, and elongated flexible means attached to a portion onlyof said sole and interconnecting the slotted sections thereof in said portion, elongated means comprising a rand of flexible material of the class consisting of fabric, felt, leather, rubber and plastic, extending along at least, a part. of the peripheryand having at least a portion thereof in a slot intermediate the upper and lower surfaces of the sole. 10. An outer sole for footwear made of a ma terial normally relatively stiff, hard or inflexible and rendered flexible by the provision of a series of slots extending substantially transversely from near one edge of the sole across only a major part of the width of the sole and a second series of similar slots extending from near the opposite edge of the sole and extending across only a, major part of the width of said sole, the slots extending through the entire thickness of the sole s as to provide a series of resilient sole sections, an e1ongated flexible means secured to and co-extensive with a limited portion of said sole and interconnecting the slotted sections thereof so as tobridge the slots between said sections in said portions.

11. An outer sole for footwear made of a material normally relatively stiff, hard or inflexible and rendered flexible by the provision of a series of slots extending substantially transversely from near one edge of the sole across only a major part of the width of the sole and a second series of similar slots extending from near the opposite edge of the sole and extending across only a major part of the width of said sole, the slots extending through the entire thickness of the sole so as to provide a series of resilient sole sections, the lower peripheral edge of said sole being cut away to provide a generally rectangular recess on each side of said sole, and a generally rectangular rand of such material in said recess on each side of said sole and interconnecting the slotted portions thereof so as to bridge the slots.

12. An outer sole or the like for footwear comprising, the combination of a main body member of normally stiff material having the outline of at least a half sole and a series of transverse slot portions cut entirely through said body alternately from each side edge across a major portion thereof toward the opposite side edge, and a rand or marginal strip of elastic material of the class consisting of rubber, vinyl plastics and other resilient plastics occupying a perimetral recess in the edge of the lower surface of the body member so as to bridge the outer ends of said slot portions.

HENRY GHEZ. OSCAR GHEZ. 

